Previewing Delivering Alpha 2013
By: Tyler Mathisen "Power Lunch" Co-Anchor & VP, Strategic Editorial Initiatives | Co-Anchor “Nightly Business Report produced by CNBC”
In just two years, Delivering Alpha has become the premier investment conference of the year. We're now beginning to put together the panels and keynote presenters for the third Delivering Alpha, on July 17, 2013, at the Pierre Hotel in New York City.
Structuring an elite, daylong investment program can be tricky. That's especially true when the objective is to produce the most thoughtful, provocative, actionable event anywhere—one that brings together policymakers, portfolio managers, hedge fund titans and even federal prosecutors. (Let's just say that when Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, spoke to Delivering Alpha last year, people listened. Intently. There was, frankly, a little bit of nervous laughter from time to time.)
(Watch: Jim Cramer's interview with Preet Bharara)
Despite the challenges, Delivering Alpha is almost as stimulating to put together as it is to attend. That's because it is a joint presentation of CNBC and Institutional Investor, two of the most respected names in business and financial journalism. Between them, they have unrivaled access to the very best people at the highest levels of government, business, finance and academia. Couple that with an advisory board that last year included such investing luminaries as Laurence Fink of BlackRock, Leon Cooperman of Omega Advisors and Dr. Mohammed El-Erian of Pimco and you can see why this event is a coveted destination for investment professionals and people who simply want to become smarter at managing money.
For me, the highlight of last year's program—apart from the audience squirming during Preet Bharara's interview with CNBC's Jim Cramer—was probably Steve Liesman's side-by-side conversation with Robert Rubin and Hank Paulson Jr. Both, of course, were U.S. Treasury secretaries. Both were the leaders of the nation's preeminent investment bank, Goldman Sachs. And both care deeply about America and the challenges it faces. Though they come from and served presidents of different political parties, they put partisanship aside and focused constructively on the big issues confronting the nation. It was an education just to listen to them and compare their analysis with that of then-Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner, who had joined Larry Kudlow on stage earlier in the day.
Lest you think that Delivering Alpha is all about policy, let me assure you that it's not. Among our panelists and keynoters last year were Henry Kravis, Jim Chanos, Bill Ackman, Barry Sternlicht and Jane Mendillo, CEO of the Harvard Management Company, to name just a few.
Bottom line: There were a lot of dollars—and lot of common sense—at Delivering Alpha 2012. This year's edition promises to be a day you won't want to miss.
